Fight among big cats sign of rising numbers

Source: Times Of India

GURUGRAM: The death of one-and-a-half-year-old female leopard apparently due to an attack by another big cat in Gairatpur Bas village is a sign of rising leopard population in the Aravalis, claimed forest officials.
“There were canine marks on the carcass, suggesting the leopard was attacked by another leopard. The death of a leopard is a big loss. But, fights among big cats are a symbol of struggle over territorial claims — an indication of rising population,” said Shyam Sunder, district forest officer (wildlife), Gurugram.

Further, at least 18 leopard sightings were reported, while five successful rescue operations were carried out in different parts of Gurugram and surrounding areas in the past couple of years. Also, five leopards were found dead in the past four years. All these are signs of a spike in leopard population, claimed Sunder. According to a survey conducted by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in 2017, at least 20 families of leopard are living in the Aravalis spread over five districts — Gurugram, Mewat, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendragarh. “The ban on mining activities in the Aravalis following a Supreme Court order in 2001 has brought big cats back to the forests. The number is continuously rising,” said the source. Moreover, the Aravalis has a rich biodiversity with a huge prey base of animals like blue bulls, langurs, mongoose, porcupine, etc. that has also helped draw leopards back to the region.

“Like other predators, leopards play an important ecological role in controlling prey populations. For instance, there will be a population explosion of neelgai if there is no leopard in the area,” said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and chairman of Wildlife SOS.

However, wildlife experts claimed the authorities had done very little to implement various wildlife protection projects, like construction of wildlife corridors and elevated roads to avoid man-animal conflict. Also, a leopard census in the Aravalis is pending for many years.